Betta Is Dying! Need Help 911

If anyone can help... My betta was fine yesterday. He had good color and was swimming just fine. Late lst night he started slapping the surface water with these herky jerky spasms. This morning he had lost most of his color and is very lethargic. Does anyone know what I can do? I change water every 5 days or so and treat with betta bowl conditioner. He is in a 1 gallon tank. He has a small bubbler that releases a very very small set of bubbles sporatically. he has gravel. I feed him a few betta pellets in the morning and a few in the evening. I take out anything he doesn't eat.

How long have you had you Betta. Do you have a filter in the tank? Is it heated?

It should also be noted that 1gal is too small even for a single Betta but lets concentrate on getting him well first so I need the above answering.

Cheers

Danny B

I've had him about two weeks. I'm in Texas so I don't heat the water. Its alsways about 75 degrees. He is very skinny but eats well. He's losing color fast. What can I do?

This is him now. And his tank.

Here is the tank. Clean treated water and small bubbler. Has gravel. You can see him near the top. He used to be bright blue and magenta with magenta flames in his blue fins.

The tank doesn't look filtered and this is your problem. All fish produce ammonia (poop as you're American!) as does decomposing food (you won't get all uneaten food out of the tank). Ammonia kills fish.

First - go change all the water NOW. Add the water treatment etc, change all the water then read the rest of this post.

A filter isn't really there to take bits and pieces out of the water (mechanical filtration) although it does this to an extent. What we're really interested in with fish keeping is the biological filtration. On the filter grow special bacteria that eat ammonia and turn this into nitrIte. Problem is nitrIte also kills fish (quicker than ammonia sometimes).

But, over time more bacteria grow which eat nitrIte (ain't nature cool) and turns this into nitrAte which doesn't kill fish in small quantities and is taken care of by water changes.

Basically, without a filter your fish is being poisoned to death and will die very soon without radical intervention. in a 1gal tank you need to be changing all the water every day to even stand a chance of it surviving. Once a week is not nearly enough - in a small tank there is less water to dilute the ammonia so the problem is even more severe

You then need to get a filter and whilst you're at it a 5gal tank minimum.

I know that these Betta bowls etc are sold and they just shouldn't be. I'm not blaming you at all for what's happened - unfortunately shops and websites that sell such aquarium equipment can give out the most appalling advice.

So to start with change ALL the water NOW and then EVERY day or as its only 1gal maybe twice a day.

Then, get a bigger tank and a filter and read up on cycling the tank - there's loads of information on here. You can't fishless cycle as you already have the Betta but with a small tank big water changes aren't so hard to do.

The reason the fish has started going down hill is because it takes time for the ammonia to start poisoning the fish. If you act now you may well save him.

Hope this helps and please ask if you are unsure on anything I've put.

Cheers

Danny B

I use Kordon Amquel Plus in this tank every day. I use 3-4 drops which is about the ratio of 1 tsp per 10 gals. I did the drop count for 1 tsp and it was about 35 drops. Divided it by 10 to get the dose for 1 gal. Then I was changing the water once every 5 days. His bubbler is under gravel and creates an under gravel type filter. When I change his water, I use the gravel vacuum and clean the top waste. I've used a little of the bio sludge from my 20 gallon tank in his tank to help age the water. I don't change all the water,just about 3/4th of it. I feed him one pellet at a time and give him a few minutes between pellets. When he starts to play with his food is when I stop. Usually about 3 to 5 pellets. He is very skinny and I feel like I am not feeding him enough but the pet store people told me not to feed him too much. Am I doing something really bad?

By the way, yes I changed his water just before seeking help. While he was waiting I had him in the aquarium. same ph as his tank. More filtration systems and aged water.

Sorry to be harsh, but either listen to the advice or have a dead fish.

You must have a proper filter in your tank. A bubbler under the gravel doesn't create an under gravel filter and if its only spitting out a few bubbles every so often its not doing anything.

Water needs to be continually drawn over the filter media to get the bacteria going / keep them alive.

'Ageing' the water doesn't do anything either - the bacteria doesn't live in the water, it lives in the filter sponges, ceramic rings etc. You need sparkling clean water, not 'aged' water and a filter (and a bigger tank - if your LFS tells you 1gal is acceptable for a Betta I'd never go there again if I were you).

Is your 20gal filtered - if so you could get a small filter for your Betta tank and use some of the sponge from that to help with the cycling process.

Cheers

Danny B

Thank you for your advice. I hope he makes it to morning. It is 1:30 am here so there is nothing open right now.

A full water change will help and should keep the ammonia down over night.

Its pretty early here (at least it was when I first read your post!) but a 14 week old baby doesn't have a concept of a reasonable time to be up on a Sunday!

Good luck and keep me updated. Any more questions please ask...

Cheers

Danny B

He made it through the night and has some color back. He still has an appetite so I think that might be a good thing. I also gave some aloe water conditioner for his slime coat in case his slime coat was compromised by the ammonia. He still looks a little weak so I'm not turning the bubbler up yet, still slow and steady. I had turned it down because it seemed to be causing him some trouble when he became weak. All my other bettas are doing fine. They have plenty of color and are strong and colorful. They all get the same type of care and attention. It just seemed he was the only one that was going down hill fast.

Glad to hear he's perked up - remember daily water changes as a minimum and get a filter (and a bigger tank)...

Cheers

Danny B

Here are pictures of my other bettas.
Female is named Pea (Derivative of peacock but since she is a fish....)
Half moon is really more blue than green but his name is Jason
The male betta (don't know what type he is) I call him Jeans
Just for kicks I've included Klaus and Goldie (S/He is a crayfish that I've had for about a year (and raised from a small ghost shrimp size) and Goldie who was supposed to be his/her dinner but they became bowl mates instead)

I almost forgot Turk

I tried to rescue Turk. He is a half moon in a tiny cup with almost no water at the store. His fins are now growing in very well.

I would also suggest investing in a heater. As the temp can drop at night. The heater will keep the temp stable.

Try soaking his food in garlic juice to give his immune system a boost.


What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet?

Looks like a large flake. The whole house is central air conditioned and is at stable and constant 75 degrees. I found a heater was unnessary and made no difference in water temperature.

How do you soak the pellets in garlic juice? I've never heard of this. Can you give me instructions? Do they like this food?

OK. Sounds fine to me.

Just make sure he not producing long stringy white waste. Co clear waste.
Long stringy white can be a signs of constipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.